I was looking at my Google Analytics today. I'm not really big on total visits but I love the map that with the locations of the visitors. It's a really small world these days.
I don't usually look at what pages people visit but today I noticed that one of my four visitors spent quite a bit of time on the "about" page. I had not looked at that page since I threw something on there when the blog was created and today I seemed to be able to look at it through a different set of eyes. I had noticed there were a few statements on the page that were quite prideful at the core. It's nothing that anyone else would look at and think it was horribly self-promotional but when I saw it my spirit said "bragging a little bit, are we?"
The items on the screen were true...it's not like I had exaggerated anything...but it was something that really didn't need to be there. The people that come across this page didn't need to know that I had won this award or that award in the past. It was not the least bit relevant to what I was doing right now with this blog. However, there they were because it was a page "about" me and I wanted to seem impressive enough that you would want to come back and visit the page again.
It made me think of the ways our pride can subtly creep up upon us. It can be as simple as that trophy you keep in your office from the time you were backup right fielder the year your company softball team won the city league title. It might be a certificate of completion from a class you took on mexican style cooking. Any little thing that really isn't that relevant to who you are or what you're doing NOW...but you leave it there as a bit of a status symbol.
I rearranged my "about" page to include information for people who might want to know without tooting my own horn. It was a lot easier...and made me feel a lot better...than I thought it would.
Are there places in your life where you have some item on display because it makes you look really good? Is it something that is only there because of pride?